Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings

Consumers automatically associate animals and experiences with certain brands and products. The capability of surfacing the “automaticity of being” (Bargh & Chartrand, 2000) using metaphoric research tools provides a paradox—consumers tell researchers deeply held beliefs about the consequences o...

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Main Authors: Martin, D., Palakshappa, N., Woodside, Arch
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71325
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author Martin, D.
Palakshappa, N.
Woodside, Arch
author_facet Martin, D.
Palakshappa, N.
Woodside, Arch
author_sort Martin, D.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Consumers automatically associate animals and experiences with certain brands and products. The capability of surfacing the “automaticity of being” (Bargh & Chartrand, 2000) using metaphoric research tools provides a paradox—consumers tell researchers deeply held beliefs about the consequences of associating brands and products with scant editing of their thoughts; consumers may tell more about themselves through metaphors than they would otherwise be willing to share. The study here is a primer on this indirect approach for collecting consumers’ conscious and nonconscious thoughts about countries, brands, and industries. Using zoomorphic forced metaphor-elicitation, long interviews of eight Indian consumers uncover insights about their feelings about products from China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The findings demonstrate collecting rich data using metaphors offers new perspectives on how consumers view foreign products. Findings show mental processes in which consumers trust brands even if they are manufactured abroad. When brands are not identified, well-known industries associated with individual countries influence product choices. These findings suggest gestalt brand and country images explain aspects of consumer attitudes about foreign products.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-713252019-04-01T05:54:46Z Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings Martin, D. Palakshappa, N. Woodside, Arch Consumers automatically associate animals and experiences with certain brands and products. The capability of surfacing the “automaticity of being” (Bargh & Chartrand, 2000) using metaphoric research tools provides a paradox—consumers tell researchers deeply held beliefs about the consequences of associating brands and products with scant editing of their thoughts; consumers may tell more about themselves through metaphors than they would otherwise be willing to share. The study here is a primer on this indirect approach for collecting consumers’ conscious and nonconscious thoughts about countries, brands, and industries. Using zoomorphic forced metaphor-elicitation, long interviews of eight Indian consumers uncover insights about their feelings about products from China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The findings demonstrate collecting rich data using metaphors offers new perspectives on how consumers view foreign products. Findings show mental processes in which consumers trust brands even if they are manufactured abroad. When brands are not identified, well-known industries associated with individual countries influence product choices. These findings suggest gestalt brand and country images explain aspects of consumer attitudes about foreign products. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71325 10.1016/j.ausmj.2018.08.001 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Martin, D.
Palakshappa, N.
Woodside, Arch
Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title_full Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title_fullStr Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title_full_unstemmed Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title_short Consumer metaphoria: Uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
title_sort consumer metaphoria: uncovering the automaticity of animal, product/brand, and country meanings
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71325